#shes not here to be rushed to endgame shes here to choose dialogue options i wouldnt dare choose as ziero (projection central)

[ryttu3k]

Finishing up SoNY, ‘bad’ end and final thoughts!

But first, the early game over.

Wow, she just gets shot. Not even slurped? That’s rude as hell XD;;

And on to the ‘bad’ end!

Beginning is much the same, ofc.

“You’re too in love with weaving a good story and establishing a seductive narrative to let facts get in the way.” Foreshadowing for the ‘good’ end, maybe?

God that Embrace scene gives me literal goosebumps.

Alright! Last time I did Danse Macabre and Retributive Justice, let’s try The Risks of Swiping Right!

lmao god I’d eat this guy too. Back to the ghost club! That legitimately is a really neat scene. ...Ooh yes so that’s where the girl was from.

Panhard just lowkey dying at the mental image of Katherine Weise in a fast food restaurant is so good.

The sweet scene between Julia and Dakota hits a bit different after the ‘good’ end XD;;

Went to the park, reminisced, and helped out the guy. That was sweet ;_; High-humanity Julia, this time!

‘Fairy God Mother?’ is great but ‘Vin Diesel?’ is objectively the funnier response.

“Shining even more brightly than usual, Aisling.” Samira got a cru-ush~

Poor Julie. It’s probably been tough without Sophie around :(

Huh. Interestingly, refusing to lie to Mia results in Julia actually feeling genuine loyalty to the Cammies (for now, at least).

Believing Agathon is still alive = more optimistic = different dialogue! See, this is how you make choices have consequences, game!

Oooh boy time to meet Adelaide XD;;

“She uncrosses her legs in a strangely seductive motion. In her mind’s eye, it probably looked like Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, but in reality, it had all the grace of a tracksuit Slav squatting.” *snickering*

Fight me, Adelaide >:(

‘sup Nastya. Went with the slightly less disruptive routine here XD Huh, she’s an aspiring DJ! Julia is deeply confused as to how being a DJ and being head of security works together.

lmao Julia referring to Hope as a girlboss. That phrase has lost all meaning to me...

The conversation between Julia and Father Leonard is still really interesting. Man, you know who I want Julia to talk to? Anatole. Interesting insights into balancing being queer Catholic vampires there for sure.

lmao oh my god I want to fight this street reporter.

‘I can almost feel my brain losing its wrinkles.’ *snort*

Yeaghhhh the Abyss bit is still so creepy...

Oops. Being honest regarding Tamika and Torque’s relationships gets a fail :(

Oh, or not XD That works! Also, uh, apparently the giant albino ghoul alligator is real, according to New York by Night. He’s Calebros’ pet.

“Because I think I have a pretty good nose for people’s auras. And when I take a good look at you... ...somehow, I have a feeling you’re a surprisingly decent person. Whatever way of unlife you choose, I hope you don’t change it. And that you remember my advice.” :)

“I know.” Oof.

“Hi.” “WAAAH!” lmao sorry Princess XD;; Just trying to imagine Qadir’s face as he tells Julia to find a 1990 glass statue of Scrooge McDuck... dying...

Oh she’s so a Toreador XD Low art options are a fantasy book, an anime DVD, or a video game... those can all be arty, though! And went with the anime DVD called ‘Ririsu no Daibouken’... that translates to ‘Adventures of Lilith’. How on the nose XD “The cover says ‘Lilith’s Carnal Carnival’.” Oh. Yeah, that’d do it XD

“This 90s original video anime presents us with a tale of five big-bosomed samurai warriors travelling through America in search of General Hastavista, The Incubus King. Don’t let all the titillation misguide you: the main draws here are peerless direction, a nearly avant-garde editing rhythm and dialogue that coyly comments on traditional gender roles in anime. Once you see the animation in the final battle, you’ll understand why it never fails to set a sakuga fan’s heart ablaze!”

She’s my new favourite.

“So can I know your name now?”

“Hmmm... Let me think...

No. <3″

I need to stress that the heart appears in the dialogue box. Like. The actual less-than-three heart.

Didn’t investigate the rat this time, so Qadir did and I die. “Glad you’re alright, little guy.” Qadir...

Still not over the drunk blood doll rats.

Kaiser’s still a goddamn creep and this time Julia is not going too far. She still has her humanity, dammit. Final set of traits:

Loyal to the end

Glass half-full

Not into a bad cop schtick

Honesty is the best policy

No more human, still humane

Onwards to the ‘bad’ end! Oops, and Dakota still did the Single White Female thing XD;;

Man I’m still really curious who the ‘good friend’ is!!

Okay! Time for end game!!

So that’s the good friend, huh? “Let me phrase it differently, then. You’re not Ecaterina the Wise, the Agitator of Prague, a Brujah elder causing turbulences all over the world... are you?”

Mention of Christof! Mention of Christof doing shady shit :| Poor Hana.

“An immigrant from Eastern Europe comes to New York City, takes the position she always expected to find herself in, is molded into someone who is no longer herself.”

Julia and Dakota representing Carthage is kind of neat.

I want to say the mention of St Jude is a reference, but I’m not sure what to XD;; Is that from Redemption? Christof could have been the one to tell Hana that.

“Like a two-person human centipede loop or something. An Ouroburos? Or an, uhh, Mobius strip?” No, that’s the other traditionally Sabbat clan XD

That‘s. That’s a hell of a reconciliation XD “Yeah, let’s give it a try. By the way I’m on the run for my unlife, want to go to California and try to find utopia?”

Julia, wear a fucking mask XD

“Hey.”

“Yeah?“

“Do you love me?”

“... Of course I do. For now, at least.”

I still don’t know if I love her. Or even if I can love anyone, for that matter. I’m a fucking monster, after all. I don’t even know if we’ll exist next month. The prospects are not looking good. But although I can’t see myself in the rearview mirror right now...

...I will remember this image of us leaving the city, somewhat melancholic, and somewhat hopeful, forever. And maybe the meaning of this image will be clarified with time. Or maybe I will just force a more positive description on it, and that is what I’ll believe.

No matter what happens... even if oceans of blood lie before us, I will make this a cherished memory.

Whatever possible salvation still remains for me... ...it probably lies in the eyes of another.

Oh dang I have chills.

So the ‘bad’ ending is about the subverted compromise. Julia resigns herself to letting the compromise about the truth of Callihan’s death go ahead. ‘Catherine’ is a walking compromise to hide the Ecaterina’s real deeds. But while Hana is still stuck in her role for now, Julia refuses to accept the compromise she’s made, both the one relating to the investigation and the compromise she made of her own views and morals. It might blow up in her face, yeah. But damn, she’s going to try.

So, final thoughts! For the sake of completion, this is what I said about Coteries:

And of course this is the part where the game all falls apart :-\

Just… god. This is probably the biggest problem with CoNY, and the reason I didn’t bother getting it until it was like… 60% off. The bulk of the game is great - the writing is intriguing, the design is stunning. But the choices themselves are so limited it’s barely worth even getting it at 60% off!

You have three choices of characters, with their own opening chapters and own individual scenes with their touchstones. You have four choices of coterie members, and three sidequests. You can probably get in at least three full story arcs and a sidequest or two, but you’re only ever limited to two of your coterie members showing up at the not-yet-endgame.

So let’s say you decide to play all three protags, which, indeed, is encouraged (there’s an achievement for it). You are going to repeat coterie arcs and side quests, because there simply aren’t enough for three unique playthroughs.

And then you get to the end and literally everything is scripted. You get attacked by the SI. You get rescued by your two coterie members (and then never see them again, despite the game being called Coteries of New York). You meet Torque, you escape the SI, Sophie reveals her plan to Torque, you go to Ellis Island, Adelaide kills Sophie (and despite the fact that you’re given multiple options there, none of them work), Arturo does his spiel, end of game. You don’t even get to choose between ending up blood bound or going “no fuck you” and at least dying with a bit of dignity!

I just. I really want to like it, and there genuinely is a lot there to like! But uuuugh the ending. Like damn at least give the poor protag the option to choose what happens to them!

Anyway. Not sure what’s next. To get all the achievements, you have to finish with all three protags, so that’s three full runs and a lot of repetitiveness (compare to, say, Bloodlines or Night Road. I have eighty-five hours on Night Road and there’s still stuff I haven’t seen!), so I can’t even just… rush it through up to the meeting with the touchstones on the third play. Nope. Gotta finish it :-\

Final rating: 6/10

8/10 characters, 9/10 atmosphere, 8/10 story aside from ending, 3/10 story ending, 2/10 replayability. Final consensus: get it on major sale if you can, otherwise, you might as well just watch an LP. I might do that instead of doing a third run, although I at least want to do a second.

I ended up revising that 6/10 to 5.5/10 after finishing all runs and getting the achievements just out of how goddamn repetitive it was. So, how does Shadows measure up?

Absolutely continued with all the things I enjoyed about CoNY (characters, atmosphere, and writing), and of the bits I hated (cookie cutter protagonists, lack of real choice, repetitiveness, the godawful ending), every single part has been completely improved.

Instead of three fledglings so similar they even have the same internal thoughts, we have Julia, who’s got such a distinct voice that she becomes the most memorable game protag I’ve seen in years, and I’m including non-VtM games in this. This is absolutely her game, and it’s just... absolutely fascinating to read and watch.

Related - actual real choices. There are five key choices that determine the ending, and every single one has actual consequence in-game. You get different dialogue. Different introspection. Different philosophies. And this carries across - if Julia believes Agathon is alive, she’s more optimistic about her relationship with Dakota, too. And of course, both endings are completely distinct and incredibly written - the ‘good’ ending where Julia gives in to her most Lasombra instincts, plays the game, wins it, gets power and respect at the expense of her humanity and avoiding all those wraiths... or the ‘bad’ ending when she listens to her morals, reconciles with Dakota, and leaves for California, uncertain, but hopeful.

Not a lot of repetitiveness. Yes, by design, you’ll probably do two playthroughs. The main plot is much the same, but there are enough options there to get multiple dialogue options and stuff. And for the little sidequests, you can actually get all in with just the two playthroughs, only repeating like... two, I think. Still, I wasn’t feeling actively bored like I was midway through my second run of CoNY!

Loved seeing more in-depth backstory and development for the coterie members. Agathon’s section was particularly fascinating, literally getting into his head.

And just. Atmosphere and music is so, so good.

Final rating: 9/10. Thank you, Draw Distance, you hit it out of the park.

[sleepymarmot]

MEA liveblog #5

Spoilers!

Tempest

Aw, you could visit the Remnant VI in Peebee's room and it reacts when you interact!

Peebee has something new about the team! She warmed up to Lexi (nice to hear; maybe she could apologize?). And she's intersted in Jaal (as I've already learned from Gil's notes). Thankfully, Ryder could react just like I did: "Are you trying to make me jealous?" Peebee: "Maybe" Oh, and she made two Observers, one for herself: "The kind of company I can shut down whenever I want without hurting its feelings". I really like how Peebee is bubbly and energetic but still kind of antisocial and very protective of her personal and emotional space.

She reminds me of Leliana more and more. A quirky, competent, nice girl shows up and wants to join the team; she has trust issues because of an older woman who shows up in her personal quest and acts overly familiar and condescending. 

Drack told me a story about accidentally setting himself on fire!

Only Gil's eyes and mouth are moving. That's very creepy. A bug? And where's the option "I'm not here to have babies?" When Gil says that the biological demands suck the emotional option is "I understand" so I thought it'd be "Yeah, I know we should reproduce but I don't want to", but somehow Ryder jumped to "You want children" -- I got the opposite impression from the way Gil started the conversation! Btw in the final right-hand option you can complain about Alec being distant, and have a longer conversation, while the left-hand is a simple "I'm sorry". I kept the short option, though -- don't think my Ryder is that bitter about her dad.

There are topics I haven't seen on the message board!

The more I think about it, the more I feel that the Meridian's entire concept is ruining the game for me. Why bother with individual vaults if the Meridian can activate the entire network at once? Why help people and raise viability when I need to stop the Archon from wiping out the entire cluster? This is just another rush towards the final battle, like every game in the OT.

Multiplayer

Topped the scoreboard for the first time in today's APEX mission as the asari adept!

Tempest

Strike team rewards: Falcon and Ruzad.

Eos

Here's that woman who informs Ryder she's trans

The quest she gives is that Remnant thresher maw, right?

Remnant VI stays and follows you around even when you holster weapons.

The noise it makes is kind of annoying, though.

Peebee and Vetra finally started chatting!

I'm going into the western region that was previously hidden by level 3 radiation. Finally, a road up the mountain!

Finally, some Vanadium!!

Vetra doesn't accept Peebee's apologies. What is she even apologizing for?

Vetra and Peebee confessed that they really like each other!

"Disabling the alarm will call off reinforcements" IF ONLY I COULD FIND IT

Of course there's another ascendant! But now I know what to do. One-shot the orb with Isharay, charge, nova, melee, he puts up shield, dodge back, repeat. Only took two turns.

Eos is 96% now... Only a bit more...

Aaand Eos is 100%! That's a good time to leave it. And to end tonight's session.

Aya

Peebee's drunk conversation: did all casual/nice options, then all colder options. Then did the canon edition: all sympathetic except the one where Peebee complains that the angara have already researched the Remnant. The sympathetic one is just "Don't worry about that", but the other one says the obvious: why did she expect otherwise? Ryder goes on to say the same encouraging things about their unique experiences anyway.

The staging of this scene is bad, pretty much DAO-level. They have this conversation stiffly standing in the middle of a museum?

Tempest

So, Peebee and I... relaxed :D I picked the romantic dialogue option, glad I did -- it was warm but not clingy enough to scare Peebee off, as I feared. (And magically, mom left the room right before this scene happened and returned a minute later... now THAT's lucky!)

Havarl

They repaired the bridge! I was hoping to see this.

Havarl! Scientists everywhere! Going into jungle to scan wild animals for science! Now that's what I like about this game.

"Given the planet's significance to the angara, I think it's proper that we assist but do not place an outpost" See, Addison's good!

Whaaat? I gave Addison a pretty speech about first contact and working together, and it raised viability by 20%?! It's freaking 100% now??? Whoa.

Had to kill a lot of hallirians and a rilcor during the first scan. Second time, with the rilcor, I could approach from above and scan before it attacked. I mean, the fight still triggered, but I could retreat without touching anything.

Damn, now I need to fight! While I was trying to disengage, the eiroch chased and sync-killed me. :( So much for pacifism...

Okay, now I killed the Roekaar and disengaged without killing the beast, even though the quest told me to kill both. Fast-travelled to a forward camp, and then the task changed to find Roekaar research data. So the game probably thinks I killed the eiroch? But just didn't give xp for that. Okay, I don't mind that much.

I refused to tell the monk how to live his life, so he decided not to visit his sister. This might have some unpleasant consequences...

Kadara

So it's just Omega #2? I was expecting something more interesting.

I guess I'll have to choose between the two gangs eventually?

And here's Reyes!

Redid conversation with Sloane to be more diplomatic/productive. First option casual, then tell her my plan, then agree to the deal.

Her voice sounds very familiar...

Oh, that's Indira Varma? Wow.

Conrad Verner's sister... and she's jealous he's "hanging out with famous people"...

"Looks like I'm adding 'detective' to my growing list of titles" You did that a long time ago! This aspect is something I didn't expect from the game at all and really enjoy.

Why are the dances behind bars?! At least there's a turian in addition to an asari... And even male humans.

Of course this place has its own Mordin.

Oh, so that's the planet I liked the most in the "golden worlds" trailer. And it's hurt by low graphics more than anything else. I need to enable AO at least.

We killed this poor dinosaur for no reason except that it was in our way...

There's another one! Let's speed up past it.

A forward station! Nice.

I really miss a killfeed and a scoreboard in sp. I need to know if my abilities are actually effective or not! RN I'm testing Flamethrower and Backlash to choose their next evolutions.

"They were going to eat me" "I know" what?

Yikes, this place

I thought the forward station was on the mountain, but no, it's down there on perfectly nice even ground... Time wasted

Yay, level 30!

Getting into fights on this planet doesn't feel right. Why would I care about these outlaws?

Where's the activator for this stupid south-west monolith?!

"I'm good with... words" Um...

Tempest

I'm just overwhelmed by the meaningless that has drowned the entire plot. Why bother developing these words when I need to chase the Archon?

16 NEW LETTERS!!! SIXTEEN!!! What the hell, game?? How about you spread content out a bit??

Alright, this scene with Peebee was kind of annoying...

I just keep losing enthusiasm for this game...

Multiplayer crashes every time I try to join an APEX mission. Well fuck you too, I'll send a strike team.

Nexus/Hyperion

Some asari prefer male or neutral pronouns, the angara have several.

"Exploration and discovery or first contact with new species?" Uh, both!!

I'll listen to the results and then reload and make decisions

Well, "exploration and discovery" actually means "colonization". First contact it is, then.

"Previous pathfinders" sucks too, they don't even mention anyone but Alec

I feel obligated to give a shout-out to my team, but also everyone works with teams but my partnership with SAM is unique

And you know, other than Bioware's love for false dichotomies giving players the illusion of choice, there's absolutely no need for this! Why wouldn't an information VI be able to include both things?

Okay, so the real reason behind the Initiative wasn't Alec's mysterious plan but someone else's.

Came here to talk to Tann about my personal storyline? -- More like chase a sick woman across several decks and then the entire cluster! How did she manage to go so far in a malfunctioning shuttle...

All roads lead back to Kadara huh

Honestly though, I have no motivation for this planet. My job is to explore new places and make contact with new species. I have no interest in internal affairs of a bunch of thugs. But of course, two perks I want require high viability here...

Also, the Archon/Meridian business sounds monumentally more urgent and important than maxing out planets... But I don't want to go into the endgame underprepared in case it'll be like ME2/ME3.